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This Canadian production (2012) recalls the lively melodramas that Warner Brothers produced throughout the Depression, dramatizing a contemporary social crisis in a brisk, entertaining fashion. The crisis in question is the mass deportation of Jamaicans living in the U.S., the UK, and Canada, many of whom have lived abroad for decades and now experience great difficulty resettling in their native country. The main characters are a New York hustler, a British college student, and a single mother from Toronto, all struggling to find work and housing in Kingston. Impressively, the filmmakers convey the desperation of their experience while maintaining a jivey, even winning feel for city life. Sudz Sutherland directed a script he wrote with Jennifer Holness. Much of the Jamaican patois is subtitled.
ByBen Sachs